Month: October 2016

mundane details

Thanks for the encouragement that saying something is better than saying nothing at all. You all may come to regret those words . . .

Josh is off in America this week for work. I’m happy that he gets to go, but I’m happier that I get to stay and finally feel settled in our house. I know it was hard for him to pack up and head out right as we finished the last of the unpacking of the boxes. We have a few more things to hang on the wall, but I’m out of supplies. Hanging on cement is a pain in the behind — we have special hooks with needle-like nails that are supposed to go into the concrete without breaking it up, but we’ve been having about a 50% success rate in this house. And I’ve had to strategically place a few photos to cover up some of the crumbling holes in the wall where they failed. Whoops.

My mom requested photos of my garden. Here’s what I have so far. The big pots are beans, squash, chard, and some other seeds that I forget, but will recognize when they pop through the dirt’s surface. The smaller pots are for baby lettuce and basil. The stuff that is already growing are my chili, tomato and eggplant transplants that I got at the nursery. And a big pot of mint. 
I need to grow some more herbs here because they always look wilty and sad in the grocery store. In Bahrain, they were all grown locally so we had lots of cheap beautiful parsley, mint, basil, dill, and cilantro in lush bunches for a quarter apiece. The herbs here look like they’ve been transported by camel in the desert sun and they all smell vaguely alive, but not appealing. When I get another 10 bags of dirt I can fill my other pots and plant parsley, spinach and cilantro. (Basil and mint are already on their way.)

Looking down on my L-shaped yard (it continues on another 20 feet down the side of the house). In the sunny spots in the dirt next to the fence I have sunflowers, squash and tomato seeds planted. Hoping they grow in the sand.  

Meels has this yucky loose tooth that has been hanging for almost 2 months. I’ve been willing it to come out since she won’t let me touch it. It’s turning gray. 

Meanwhile every other tooth is dropping out of her face — ones that weren’t even loose a few weeks ago. The tooth fairy gives her 10 dirham (about $2.75). She told me she thought the tooth fairy should bring her 100 dirham ($27). Maybe if that terrible top tooth ever comes out . . . 

More changes today. Gum chewing gone wrong. I cut it all out and then evened out the ends. She probably lost 5 inches of length. 

Saturdays are for yard work, right? Our compound has neglected our yard so we decided to take matters into our own hands. The boys were happy to hack away at this dead tree, removing all of the dried out branches. 

We have plenty of dry wood for a future bonfire. The kids broke it down and are storing it for when we get a fire pit. Too bad I have one of those in storage . . . 
Yard work completed, we are headed to the ambassador’s house this afternoon for an embassy BBQ. A “Welcome Back Now That It’s Not A Million Degrees Outside and We Can Get Together Outside” party. I think I know maybe 5 families out of over 200 people, so we’ll see how this goes. 

The people have spoken

Well, 4 people have spoken. I’ll keep looking for things to write about as long as it’s not annoying for readers to wait in between posts. If I’m not going to do something well, I’d rather not do it at all, but today I had a friend reference a post that I wrote 3 years ago so I took that as a sign that there’s still value in doing this.

I had mentioned to her that moving to Abu Dhabi felt like living in California and she said I was just hanging out in the “fancy” parts of town and there was plenty of crazy happening over the bridge in the outer parts of Abu Dhabi. I guess I’ll have to check out some of those off island areas eventually, if I can find my way there.

I left our coffee date and headed up to the port area so I could buy some dirt for my garden. I have yard space, but it’s essentially just sand, so I’ll still need to plant in my pots while I attempt to create a good balance of dirt and sand in the ground — it’s all part of the gardening experiment. I made it there with only one major wrong turn. That’s something to celebrate since Google Maps seems to hate me, always telling me to turn right and then changing its mind at the last second, or telling me to turn left and then promptly requests, “Now make a U-turn.” I hate it, but I’d be even more lost without it.

I got my dirt from the plant souk, which is a block of stalls, all selling potted plants, ceramic pots, potting soil and other garden and greenery related items. I had been there once before with a friend so I went back to stall number 40 and said, “Remember me? I’d like some dirt.” It’s always better to have a contact or a prior relationship when trying to make a deal.

I finished my shopping quickly and he loaded my 10 bags of potting soil and several tomato, chile, eggplant and mint transplants. I have seeds, but these will give a few things a head start. Feeling pleased with myself, I headed home and promptly went the wrong way. My app that has a Take Me Home button wasn’t working and I couldn’t pull over anywhere to find my house on Google Maps. So in my attempt to “wing it” I made several wrong turns and ended up somewhere parallel to where I needed to be.

I headed down the street when a car started heading at me, flashing his lights, driving the wrong way. I thought to myself, “Kate was right! There are some crazy drivers on other parts of the island.” And then another car came around the corner straight at me and I realized I was the crazy driver going the wrong way down a one way street. I quickly pulled into a parking lot (thankful there was one right ahead so I could get off the road) and got my bearings.

To prove that I’m not a terrible driver, as I was sitting and looking at the map, another car did the same thing. Silver sedan is backing up as the 3 cars in the photo all honked at him and flashed their lights — it made me feel a little less ridiculous. It’s not marked and there’s construction barriers all over so I’m not sure how anyone is supposed to know which way to go. 

Google hating me — why are you trying to take me out of the way to the left and back around when I should be able to go straight ahead and turn right to get on the main highway home? It’s why you bug me. Anyway, I made it home, planted my garden and vowed to do better next time I venture out. 
This was the smile I got on the way to school. 

And the flopping and crying that happened after school when I told her she couldn’t have the Arabic sweets that daddy had brought home the night before. Technically we were arguing over whether there is protein in the dates that she had for snack at school since I told her she had to have protein to balance out the sweets she had already eaten. She finally ate some grilled halloumi (her favorite cheese) and bounced back from the edge of hysteria as soon as it hit her stomach.

I’d say the cat is loving life here in Abu Dhabi. Hoping I can relax like this soon (only in my lounge chair and not in the bushes). 

Turning the corner

Camille came home from school on Sunday and proudly declared, “I didn’t cry at all today! No tears and no puffy eyes.” Let’s ignore the fact that school started in August and it’s now October and it took that long to get to a tear free day. God bless Ms. Hamid, Miss Lea (the bus lady), and me. (And the teacher’s aid and the Arabic teacher and the music teacher and her friends and anyone else who was part of The Crying Game these past few months.)

She still prefers Bahrain and at every turn compares her old school to her new one. “In Bahrain we didn’t have to go to school in January.” (Yes, she did.) “In Bahrain, my school was a lot shorter.” (She gets home at 4 instead of 3:10, so it is a little longer.) “In Bahrain I saw my brothers every day and at my new school I never see them.” (That is true, but probably the only thing that is truly better about her old school compared to this one.)

It reminds me of when Mom and Dad moved us from Oakland down to Laguna Niguel in Orange County. We loved Oakland and didn’t want to leave, but to someone looking in from the outside they would have assumed we were happy to be rescued from the ghetto and dropped into the middle of Southern California paradise. Complaints like, “There are too many white people here” or “How many Target strip malls do you need right next to each other?” or “All these houses look alike. It’s boring.” might have seemed crazy to them, but it made perfect sense to us.

I’m not sure how much more I’m going to be able to blog. Abu Dhabi is the Laguna Niguel of the Middle East. Or Beverly Hills 90210 without the drama. I drive around and it looks like a flat version of Crown Valley Parkway. Perfectly timed stoplights intersecting palm tree lined streets with housing developments and gated communities tucked away on the side streets. Shopping malls everywhere. No Target, but we have Jamba Juice, Five Guys, Baja Fresh, Old Navy, Gap, Victoria’s Secret, Cold Stone, Chili’s and any other chain you could possibly want. Except Chipotle and In N Out. Everything is so normal.

After 4 years in Bahrain, life there seemed a little pedestrian, but moving here is almost a transplant to the US, with the added advantage of being removed from political news. And people wear a bit more clothing here than in CA. Or maybe a lot more clothing, it’s been a while since we’ve been back. Camille was pointing out the v-neck cut in her swimsuit and saying, “This is too low. It shows too much of my . . . you know.” Yes, your collarbone? That’s perfectly all right. I don’t think your Land’s End swimsuit is too risqué. #MiddleEastproblems

I have funny family stories, but they aren’t just mine to share anymore. I have one about a kid who was caught doing something he wasn’t supposed to do and then the way he attempted to fix the situation was not what I envisioned when I coached him through the plan . . . it was easier when they were younger and didn’t care that I was writing about them.

Putting that out there so I don’t leave anyone hanging. I either need new material or a pair of fresh eyes. Or a private blog so I can write all the stories now and then release them when the kids are grown and don’t care anymore.

I’m almost finished unpacking — the bomb dropped a week ago and I’m 96% finished. I haven’t found a place for everything yet, even after buying out half of IKEA to store all the kids’ treasures and Josh’s clothes. But I’m really close. Daily life is the kids at school, me trying to get myself to the gym (I’m only averaging 2 days/week right now), and then we have Rugby, swimming lessons, soccer, Awana, home group bible study and other activities spread throughout the week. For the first time they aren’t all doing the same thing so it feels different having everyone going in different directions. Caleb is rugby, Calvin is soccer, Carter and Camille are swimming . . . thankfully we have both an after school activities bus and a cheap taxi system so that cuts down on some of the extra driving.

Working on making this place home. I’m content, but still looking for a purpose. And something to write about.

Exotic eating

Since we still haven’t gotten our HHG (household goods), we’re in a bit of a slump when it comes to eating at home. Because we can order anything and everything to be delivered (McDonald’s, KFC, and Lebanese “Chipotle,” were all this past week) at the last minute it’s easier to pick up the phone at the end of the day than head into the kitchen. Especially when the kids eat through anything I buy like a school of piranhas, it’s a bit difficult to keep the pantry stocked with things I want to cook. 
In anticipation of our things arriving this week we headed to the big grocery store today. The variety of products available here rivals anything in the US. Kamut, quinoa, spelt and all the other trendy not-grains, organic everything, and alternative milks for every kind of diet — including camel milk. I’m sure some of it is more expensive than in the US, but I can’t be sure since it’s been over 3 years since I’ve been to a US grocery store. 

But unless the US has changed drastically in that time, I know you can’t find these items on the shelf at Safeway: beef hearts, lamb feet, cow feet, beef kidneys, lamb hearts and brains and more of the interesting animal cuts. (I only bought the lamb feet because I’m going to give them to the dog as a chew.)
More exotics: banana flowers, tapioca, and the brown things on the front left that I can’t identify. I’m completely clueless with a lot of the produce at the store and often wish I had a cultural expert who could tell me what things are and how to cook them. Since the UAE is populated with cultures from around the globe (estimates are that only 10-20% are Emirati) there are specialty food items from everywhere. My favorite exotic discovery was on the Russian food aisle where we found fantastic sour pickles and a spicy red pepper paste called Ajvar.
After we pick out our produce items, we have to have it weighed by people working in the produce department before heading to the checkout counters in the front of the store. It’s always a pain when I go to pay and find that a bag of cilantro or chiles was hidden under the bread and missed getting weighed. Then it’s either run back to the counter myself to get the price sticker or sometimes the checker will send the bagger back to have the item weighed. Either way, sorry to the people behind me! 
The photo above shows what happens when I’m not paying attention — someone keyed in the wrong code and I was charged $57 for 2 eggplant. Oops. Groceries are expensive here, but not that outrageous. Luckily it was an easy stop at customer service for a refund. 

We may have access to a great variety of food, but when looking for a toilet plunger, the choices are sorely lacking. The only ones we’ve found have a 12 inch handle and look like they are made for a doll sized toilet. I guess we’ll have to shop for home goods at the hardware store.

Only 2 more days until our move begins/finishes! I’m tired of being in limbo!